No major change to UNIFIL mandate
BEIRUT: The UN Security Council’s decision on Wednesday to extend the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) by another year “didn’t include any substantial modification to the mandate, as Washington had originally demanded,” a Lebanese official working with UNIFIL told Arab News.
But the resolution extending the mandate “asked UNIFIL to identify the areas it can’t enter and inform the UN,” the official said. The resolution asks the UN secretary-general “to look at ways to… increase UNIFIL’s visible presence, including through patrols and inspections, within its existing mandate and capabilities.”
A modification to the mandate demands that UNIFIL inform the Lebanese Army of any suspicious activities so the latter can investigate, the official said.
“If the suspicion concerns a public place, the army can enter and search it, but if it concerns a private place, it needs to seek the public prosecutor’s permission, which could take some time,” he added.
The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, welcomed the new UNIFIL mandate and considered it “stronger than before.”
She said: “Conditions in south Lebanon are very dangerous today, and the clouds of war are gathering… The resolution demands that UNIFIL double its efforts to prevent the flow of arms and terrorists to the area.”
Last month, Haley said UNIFIL was not doing an effective job against Hezbollah, and the force’s commander, Gen. Michael Beary, showed a lack of understanding of the group’s activities.
A source close to UNIFIL said when Beary tried to deploy patrols, “Hezbollah responded with public protests, claiming that UNIFIL’s activities contradict UN Security Council resolution 1701.”
The source added: “The resolution presumes that the Lebanese Army accompanies UNIFIL patrols, but the army can’t cover 400 daily UNIFIL patrols, so Hezbollah considered the entry of UNIFIL patrols into private property a violation of resolution 1701.”